LINKDING

Summary: Lan Zhan is — a friend. A guy. That takes the pressure off, knowing they’re doing this as friends, that Wei Ying doesn’t have to perform. And, he’ll admit, it’s flattering that Lan Zhan wants him. The guy is gorgeous. And when he said "I know how to please a man," in that deep, silky voice of his — / Straight boy Wei Ying enters a friends with benefits arrangement with his gay roommate and best friend, Lan Zhan. It absolutely doesn't awaken anything in him. ➤ modern au wangxian fic where they're friends and roommates who start a friends-with-benefits arrangement ➤ a-spec wangxian! I liked how it was handled with wwx's difficulties in recognizing what he was feeling about lwj ➤ I read this fic as a wip and I have a bad memory so I don't recall everything I thought about it in the earlier chapters but it was good! ➤70k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>In which Lan Wangji attempts to reconcile who he thought he would be with who he is.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In which Wei Ying plans his return to the theater world (again) and a-Yuan moves in.</blockquote> ➤ I adore everyone in this fic, I love that everyone gets arcs, either relational or professional, and half the relationship arcs are platonic; and I love how much they all care about each other and support each other in their various ways! (and I love that nhs's arc is about his relationship with himself and his identity?)

<blockquote>“I’m not here to help you with your work,” said Lan Zhan, injecting frost into his voice to deter any further attempts at charm. “I’ll be focusing on my research.” Wei Ying cocked his head. “Research?” he said. “Mm. I’m a cultivation researcher, not a department employee. I’m reconstructing the ancient musical cultivation techniques of the Lan clan.” / Lan Zhan’s new liaison at the Caiyi Municipal Cultivation Department is an enigma – ridiculously talented, yet somehow content with mopping up spiritual pests for barely above minimum wage. Wei Ying is slapdash and irresponsible, and Lan Zhan doesn’t like him at all… but then he meets A-Yuan, who loves music and longs for a piano his father can’t afford. Forced into cautious friendship by a four-year-old's music lessons, Lan Zhan soon realises Wei Ying is more than he seems. The single father is a man of many secrets – including, perhaps, the key to Lan Zhan's life's work. And in the meantime, the background resentment in Caiyi Town is rising to dangerous levels…</blockquote> ➤ fascinating au in which lwj is trying to revive the techniques for musical cultivation which were lost long ago ➤ I loved the worldbuilding, the character work, and the plot! Good sibling content, good lwj student oc's, good a-yuan and wwx, good many things

<blockquote>Lan Zhan comes to London to pet sit for his brother. Huaisang persuades him that his friend Wei Ying can stay too. Wei Ying is an art student who goes to bed at the same time Lan Zhan gets up. Sometimes he is only wearing pants. It is absolutely intolerable, but the cat likes him.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The man is in Lan Zhan’s bed. Did they—he begins to wonder, eyes trailing to where the man’s body lies under the blanket. Had Lan Zhan—? Then the sleep-fog clears and Lan Zhan realizes that the young man isn’t quite opaque around the edges. “You’re a spirit.” The spirit narrows its eyes. “I’m so much more than that.” (Lan Zhan buys a guqin off eBay for a suspiciously low price, only to find that it’s haunted. And now there’s a ghost in his bed.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>When Lan Zhan moved into Gentian Cottage, he was looking for a quiet home and a fresh perspective on life. He didn't expect his new home to be occupied by a ghost who was anything but quiet, or to be pulled into a century-old mystery. Lan Zhan is about to discover that the world is stranger than he'd ever imagined and romance isn't just a genre on his bookshelf.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Lan Zhan does not expect his life to change at six-thirty in the evening in the middle of the week. Or: When you touch your soulmate for the first time, you remember your past life together. When Lan Zhan touches Wei Ying, he watches him die.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Lan Zhan has been working at the public library for three years the first time he meets the most beautiful man he has ever seen. (50% library shenanigans, 50% fandom feels, 100% WangXian.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Modern AU. Wei Wuxian and his Burial Mounds are slipping away, so Lan Wangji makes a decision to keep the one part of him that he can. And becomes a parent. Eventually.</blockquote> ➤ lwj learning how to parent a-yuan

<blockquote>This fic came out of a conversation with by-wwxsays_er around the idea that Lan Wangji is terribly conventional and rule-bound, right up until the moment any of those rules and conventions get in the way of him getting to fuck Wei Ying. Then there is only one thing on his agenda.</blockquote> ➤ series consists of: Lan Wangji's Big Dick Agenda Pursuant to LWJ's Big Dick The Sex Swing and the Sedan

<blockquote>“Huh,” Wei Wuxian said finally. He was staring at the guy’s face, lips parted. “He’s kind of…” he tilted his head. “Hot?” “Don’t you dare,” said Jiang Cheng, “try and sleep with the random hobo we found sleeping in a haunted fucking cave.” (Reincarnation has its pitfalls.)</blockquote> ➤ the one where wwx is reincarnated, but the original lwj has been asleep under a curse this whole time

<blockquote>Wei Ying abandons her suitcase to investigate the sleeping situation, already coming up with a hundred reasons not to inconvenience Lan Zhan by stealing half of her fucking bed, and then gets a better look at it. It’s huge. Wei Ying has seen a king bed before, and this is bigger than that. Is that a California King? Is that what those huge-ass orgy beds are called? There are parking spaces smaller than this bed. Wei Ying has lived in apartments smaller than this bed. “You know,” Wei Ying says thoughtfully, “I’ll level with you. I was gonna volunteer to sleep on the couch, or steal some pillows and blankets and sleep in the bathtub, but then I saw this monstrosity. Lan Zhan, look at this fucking bed.” Lan Zhan rests her hands on the room divider, her face softly amused. “I am looking.” “We could tend a whole herd of sheep on this bed,” Wei Ying says, warming to her subject. “We could cross the Pacific Ocean and weather any storm on this bed. Fuck, Lan Zhan, I could stage an entire community theatre production of Chicago on this bed.” Or: There was only one bed, but that part's fine, actually.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"Contestants get paid by the week. The longer you stay in the running and the more you charm the fans, the bigger your paycheck after the season wraps. People compete on Knight Hunt for fame, fortune and love. In that order." </blockquote>

<blockquote>When Wei Ying set out to move on from his ex after the ex broke his heart and left him cold and alone in the world, he hadn't expected the result to be quite so, well, incredible. If he is honest. All he'd meant to do was have a one-night stand with a random guy, hoping the whole time that somewhere out there Wang Peng could feel it somehow and seethe with jealousy. But the guy he'd randomly picked up at a park, of all places, has turned out to be a fantastic fucking lay. Or, Wangxian are idiots and Wei Ying finds himself in the family way.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Full-time necromancer and part-time cam boy, Wei Wuxian, finds himself unexpectedly homeless. An enthusiastic patron comes to his rescue. Conversely: Immortal Cultivator Lan Wangji has been waiting a long time for his deceased husband to be reincarnated again. In retrospect, he should have anticipated that this is how it would go.</blockquote> ➤ Surprisingly not au

<blockquote>Exhausted from a busy cultivation conference, the last thing Lan Zhan needs is a man appearing out of thin air as he and his brother walk back to their hotel. Wei Wuxian isn't the first time traveler to appear in modern cultivation history, but that doesn't mean anyone knows how to send him back. As he helps them fill in gaps in the historical record - whether left by destruction or revisionism - Lan Zhan finds himself hoping that he'll stay. Even if there are things Wei Wuxian isn't telling him.</blockquote> ➤ series consists of: 忘不了你的爱 (can't forget your love) 所有遗憾的都不是未来 (the future isn't all regret)

Summary: <blockquote>"Nie Huaisang," Jiang Cheng hisses, "have you brought me to a sex club?" "Don't be ridiculous," Nie Huaisang says breezily. "You can't have sex in a licenced venue."</blockquote> ➤ I appreciate the focus on kink done in less explicitly sexual ways, where the focus is more on people who like kink as an end in itself rather than only sexual ➤ series consists of: already more than skin can hold turn away from flowers altogether delicate names like bones in the body wild patience you seem, secretly, to love everything with a little sting qualities, much underrated so cold you're boiling over splendor hung aloft the night a city erected quick-time beyond what the body knows

<blockquote>Fuck, he had totally walked into a set, hadn’t he? The beautiful, ethereal looking actor in his period piece outfit was pissed and waiting to tear him a new one, if the expression was any clue. One moment the man was up, and then, the next second, he had gracefully jumped from the wall in front of Wei Ying, who, only by the strength of his will, did not scream in alarm. He did yelp a little. But very manfully. “No entry after daybreak,” said the man, and his voice was deeper than Wei Ying could’ve guessed. “How did you get past the wards?” or, modern!wwx takes a wrong turn and ends up in the cultivation world</blockquote>

<blockquote>It doesn't hit Wei Ying until the third time it happens. In his defense, he's not running on all cylinders, and definitely only on four hours of sleep. So if all he's noticed about the guy sharing the elevator with him for the third time in two weeks is his hotness, who can really blame him? But now that he's looking a bit more closely, as the guy stares resolutely at the number display ticking up, he sees the telltale signs: slightly rumpled collar on an otherwise pristine outfit, bags under his eyes—not so noticeable that they are instantly apparent, but there if you look closely enough—kiss-bitten lips, and (the most damning evidence of all) a hickey blooming just under his ear. This guy is coming back from a hookup of his own.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Lan Zhan had only ever desired three things in life: to create perfumes, to show respect to his uncle’s teachings about the perfume arts, and to love Wei Ying. Over the years, he’d learned that he could only fulfill one of those wishes at the expense of the others. After a disastrous meeting leaves his reputation in shreds and puts his independent perfume studio at risk, Lan Zhan receives help from someone he never expected to see again. In the aftermath, he finds himself wondering whether he made the right choice when he broke up with Wei Ying all those years ago.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Jin Ling resumes thumping on the door to room 721, and the small collection of freshmen starts chanting “Senior Wei! Senior Wei! Senior Wei!” with increasing volume until finally Wei Wuxian opens the door. “Yes?” he says with his widest, most innocent eyes. “Senior Wei!” demands Lan Jingyi, shoving himself to the front of the group. “Why didn’t you tell us you’re a contestant on this year’s season of The Great Gusu Bake Off?!?” -- Several months ago, college student Wei Wuxian secretly competed in the most popular reality show in the country. The show starts airing in the fall. The freshmen in his dorm collectively lose their minds.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Wei Ying, virgin and noted heterosexual, gets hit with a curse of an unusual nature on his 30th birthday — through physical contact, he can read the minds of others around him. Enter Lan Zhan, hot former rival and current coworker, whose true thoughts about Wei Ying are nothing like he expects. (A loose Cherry Magic AU)</blockquote> ➤ the one where you get ~cursed~ if you're still a virgin by your 30th birthday

<blockquote>"I don't want to really date anyone. It's so stupid, I just need to pretend date someone until Jiang Cheng gets his act together, then go back to my own life." He stares at his empty coffee cup. "Date me," Lan Zhan says. Then he looks at Wei Ying's empty cup. "Would you like another cup of coffee?" "Always," Wei Ying says automatically. "But wait, what." "I'll get you another cup." Lan Zhan rises smoothly from the table. "No, wait, hang on." Wei Ying grabs his wrist before he can take the cup and Lan Zhan freezes up, staring down at where Wei Ying is hanging on to him. "Fuck, sorry, I'll—" Wei Ying hastily lets go of his wrist. "Sorry, I—what did you mean?" "I can pretend to date you," Lan Zhan says. "You take it with cream and sugar, correct?"</blockquote>

<blockquote>“It’s okay that you miss him,” said Lan Wangji, a familiar litany to them both by now. “Do you feel sad?” “I feel sad,” A-Yuan repeated, shoulders hitching with tiny hiccuping sniffs. “When is he coming back?” “I don’t know. I am not sure where he is.” But this seemed to frustrate A-Yuan. “Xian-gege! I miss him! Please, baba?” He looked up at him with wet cheeks and a wide, quivering frown. “Please baba can you ask him? I really miss him!” He sobbed again, heartbreakingly. It stabbed straight through him, cracking open the reservoir of loss and helplessness that was all his own. His child’s grief did that, sometimes. It always took him by surprise. He caught his breath sharply and gathered A-Yuan into his arms, holding him tight until the pain ebbed. “I will try,” he said softly into A-Yuan’s hair, when he could speak again. He never made uncertain promises and tried not even to raise uncertain hopes, but his son was hurting. His son believed he could make it better. He couldn’t not try. Wen Qing might at least know who this “Xian-gege” was. He would text her in the morning. It would be a start.</blockquote>

<blockquote>It’s a really unfortunate thing, developing a crush on your husband. Wei Ying had assumed this would be easy. Lan Zhan had been so icy and unpleasant to him, it had never occurred to him that he might end up spending the next however many years with this dumb, burning feeling in his chest whenever he looks at him. “Okay,” says Wei Ying. “But tell me if I…if the pretending gets to be too hard, okay?” “It will not,” says Lan Zhan, quietly certain.</blockquote> ➤ hahhhhh I read this eons ago and just kept not bookmarking it, whoops

<blockquote>After thirteen years away, Dr. Wei Wuxian is back in Gusu. A car accident near his apartment brings someone unexpected back into his life and everything changes for the better.</blockquote>

<blockquoteA new plan hatches in Wei Wuxian’s head. If this nocturnal, bottom-feeding, slimy, invasive mudcat posing as a beautiful actor thinks he can sway Wei Wuxian with animal pictures and a sob story and an unbelievably stilted way of texting with still no dick pictures in the first five minutes of conversation, he has another thing coming. Wei Wuxian’s got it, alright, he has this in the fucking bag. / Wei Wuxian plots to expose a catfish using strategic memes and turtle pictures while wiggling his way out of family dinner. Lan Wangji just wants companions. </blockquote> ➤ I loved how the resolution was about more than just the lwj/wwx but was about wwx's relationships with all the important people in his life. Also the sudden outside pov with the internet talking about lwj's mystery friend after so much time in wwx's head gave me LIFE.

<blockquote>A fic based lightly on a reddit post— "I (21f) have a crush on my roommate (20f). I can't figure out if she actually likes me back or not or is just being friendly. She cooks for me and knows all my favorite foods, and brings me lunch. She buys me anything I want, and her family all joke about our wedding. I once fell asleep on her lap and when I woke up she was stroking my hair and I almost had a stroke. I can't figure out if she's flirting with me or not. Help!"</blockquote> ➤ do I know anything about any of these characters? No. Was I charmed anyway? absolutely